MajidReza Souzanchi Kushani, a Christian who was charged and imprisoned in Iran for promoting house churches, was given early release from jail because he caught COVID-19, Christian Response reported Friday. Iran ranks no. 8 on the US World Watch List 2021 of countries that persecute Christians.
...continue reading this storyThirty-five Christians were arrested and detained in Eritrea after government forces raided two prayer meetings at separate locations last month, International Christian Concern reports. Thirteen of those arrested were still imprisoned as of April 17.
...continue reading this storyA Christian family is confined to their home after being attacked and harassed by tribal animists in India’s Jharkhand state, Morning Star News reports. India now ranks 10th on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries where Christians are persecuted: the country ranked 31st in 2013, just before Hindu nationalists Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014.
...continue reading this storyNearly a million people, many of them Christians, face severe hunger in northern Mozambique after Islamist militants drove them from their homes, aid workers confirmed.
...continue reading this storyA mother of seven children in eastern Uganda has reportedly suffered severe wounds after her husband and other Muslim relatives attacked her on Easter Sunday for putting her faith in Christ.
...continue reading this storyAn evangelical church in China says it has received back a cross and other items that were confiscated by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
...continue reading this storyAn archbishop in war-torn Syria has thanked Hungary for enabling hundreds of Christians to return to their homes, Hungary’s government said.
...continue reading this storyAuthorities in Laos have released a pastor who was jailed early last year for refusing to halt worship services at the church he founded in the southeast Asian country, International Christian Concern reports. Pastor Sithon Thippavong was freed on April 9 after just over a year in prison.
...continue reading this storyAround 1,000 people attended a demonstration outside GraceLife Church in Alberta, Canada on Sunday, to protest against the government’s physical closing of the church’s premises on the grounds it had violated COVID-19 restrictions, Christian Headlines reports. GraceLife is led by Pastor James Coates, who was arrested and detained for holding services in contravention of coronavirus regulations; Coates’ trial is set for May 3.
...continue reading this storyEight Christians who were abducted by gunmen in Nigeria’s Kaduna state last month have been freed and were taken to hospital for medical evaluation, International Christian Concern reports. Nigeria currently ranks 9th on the US Open Doors Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be Christian: believers in the northern region and in the Middle Belt are vulnerable to abduction, violence, and murder at the hands of Islamic extremist groups such as militant Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram/ISIS West Africa.
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